When does the day start?

The Panchangam day begins at local sunrise and ends at sunrise the next day.

The tithi shown for a day is the one present at sunrise in the selected city. Before sunrise, the previous panchangam day is still in progress, even though the civil date has changed at midnight.

Why location matters

Sunrise occurs at different times in different places. If a tithi ends close to sunrise, two cities may therefore show different tithis for the same civil date.

For example, suppose a tithi ends at 6:40 am. It is present at a location where sunrise is at 6:12 am, but has ended at a location where sunrise is at 6:50 am. The tithi changes at the same instant; the local sunrise determines which one appears in each city's daily panchangam.

Festival dates use their own rules

Some observances depend on a particular part of the day or night. Pradosham uses the period after sunset, Sankashti uses moonrise, and Shivaratri uses nishitha, the middle muhurta of the night. The tithi at sunrise alone does not determine these dates.

Reading this panchangam

Each daily page names the city, gives its sunrise and sunset, and shows when the listed tithi ends. Festival pages explain the period used to determine the observance date.